The Foam/rock Projects Here Thread
 

With so many people doing the foam/rock projects, I thought we should have our own forum:p but I doubt that would happen, so I decided to start a thread with links to everybody's projects here. First, (in no particular order) is customcolor's 125gallon build. Then Tiggsy's 180 build in the UK. Here's Kannin's 220 gallon with external overflows and a Yoda sculpture:p. Next we have yours truely, yousmellsfishy's 5.5 all-in-one nano. Next up is GIJOE007's DIY rock, Joes version. From Florida, here's fishinpcola's project thread. RyanBruck's is coming along nicely. Next up is Speckled Grouper's build thread for his 265 gallon project.
I'm sure there are others. Please provide a link to your foam/rock projects here.
Looking for a project from...........OCEAN SIZE?????

Yousmellsfishy, could you please edit your post and make that "her 265 gallon project"?:D

My deepest apologies. I cannot edit the post because it has been more that 60 minutes since I posted.:( It figures that the only time in the whole post that I used a gender specific pronoun was with yours:rolleyes:

Sorry i never made a build thread, but heres a pic of my foam wall 10g nano
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...o/DSCN1782.jpg

Very nice!!! Love the blue and red zoas.

Thanks for this thread, nice having it all together. Some great, great work here. Problem is, it makes everything else seem inadequate now...I have no choice but to try this. :)

btw...GIJO's link takes us to your tank. :)

One very important thing I would like to mention:

When doing this, you have to have the vision.

More than once I stood infront of my panels and thought "That looks like crap! Mine will never look as good as Kannin and Tiggsy's." But I kept going, became more comfortable working with the foam and I think I will be happy with the end result after all.

tiggsys tank turned out sweet. It looks so real with all the livestock in it.

Thanks for the head's up The build thread for GIJOE007's project is here.

Here is the side wall I did in my 275.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...IMG_0301-1.jpg

I don't have an extensive build thread for it, but there are some pictures of it being done in the link with my little red house icon.

that wall looks great

Its nice to have alot of foam build threads on here. Hopefully the mods can make this a sticky:)

Nice work on the side wall siropa. I like the high rock to foam ratio

These projects look awesome...but, how are you getting these huge walls in the tank? My tank, and I am sure most of everyone elses, has the cross support braces on the top. How do you get around that? Are they not needed for support? I am upgrading from a 75 to a 125 soon, and I want to do something like this, but I don't want to ruin the tank. Any info on this would be great. Thanks

My wall consists of 4 pieces. They go in easily on an angle and under the support braces.

thanks yousmellsfishy. I've been pretty happy with it.

I actually built mine in-tank. I fastened the eggcrate first to the tank and then started the attachment. with all the rock I used it would have been difficult to get it in if I had built it outside.

Here is a link to my build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1361355
(Foam and aragocrete starts on page #1)

And some quick pictures:


http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...9a6731f4_o.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...918ed4b6_o.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...de5efe8d_o.jpg

here is a followup pic of mine after 9months

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...a/rockwall.jpg

:eek2: :eek1: :inlove:
Holy Cow!!! awesome!!!!!!

Wow siropa.
That looks great.
Love the goby cave. Cool

thanks guys.

That fish in the cave is a midas blenny. It was really lucky he picked a spot right up front like that.

Is there a fish in that same hole in the first pic a couple of post back?

TTT for a good thread. I would like to see more projects.

here is my 29g
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/NROCKS/1-4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/NROCKS/2-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/NROCKS/3-1.jpg

Great idea compiling these for us, thanks a bunch yousmellsfishy!

great looking tanks guys.

about to try this for my 120, but am thinking about using aragocrete instead of foam between the rocks.

haven't seen anyone try this, is there a thread?

other than the cement shrinking during drying (and the long curing time), i can't think of any problems with this idea.

would it work? any suggestions?

what products and brand you used to create the coraLLINE ALGAE and what was used to glue the sand?!!!thanks looks awesome

what is aragocrete and where can I buy it?!!!thanks

I believe the coralline algae is actually a purple marine epoxy and aragocrete is a homemade cement/aragonite mix.

Here's my 60g rock/foam wall:

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p...7/RockWall.jpg

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p.../Rockwall2.jpg


Marco Rock Rubble pieces were siliconed to 4 - 24" X 12" sheets of plastic canvas. Gaps were then filled with Pond Foam, coated with Zap Finishing Epoxy, then sprinkled with sand and crushed coral.

Vertical edges of the individual sheets were cut into an interlocking wavy pattern so as not to have straight-line seams between sheets. This worked out well, as you cannot tell the location of the seams.

Each section has an integrated return siliconed into it that ends with an FPT elbow. These returns will (hopefully) provide the desirable random flow throughout the tank. In the event that some directional adjustment becomes necessary for the individual returns, to customize the flow according to what animals end up where, (4) 1/2' loc-line MPT adapter fittings with adjustable nozzles can be screwed into the integrated FPT elbows.

There is also an integrated 36" spray bar that will provide surface agitation to promote oxygen exchange.

I doubt that I will have the time to start and maintain a build thread as I had hoped, since I just moved 1500 miles and am starting work on a very large project down here. I’ll try to post progress pics when I can.

Props to Kannin for showing the way, and to yousmellsfishy for the plastic canvas and wavy-seams ideas.

Bruno I have a few questions if you dont mind.

What type of plastic canvas did you use and where did you get it?

How did you attach the canvas to the back of the tank? I'm assuming you siliconed it.

This is the plastic canvas that I used:

http://www.anniesattic.com/supplies/...l?prod_id=2834

I taped the back of the plastic canvas with clear packing tape before I started. This was to make sure the silicone would dry flat and flush with the plastic material. This makes it much easier to silicone the finished product to the back of the tank.

I then siliconed the Marco Rock to the canvas. I tried to find pieces that fit snugly next to one another, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. I did not use that much foam. About half a can.

After the silicone had dried, I removed the packing tape from the back of the canvas.

I then did the finishing epoxy/sand and crushed coral coating on the exposed foam.

Using liberal amounts of silicone, I then siliconed the finished sections to the back of the tank. I used (4) 10-oz. tubes for this

Lookin good Bruno. welcome to the foam/rock club:D



Ocean Size????? You in??

Wow, I disappear for a week or so and I get called out... *twice*.

That must be my cue. ;)

I'm going slower than the rest of you because I'm doing a (perhaps) bigger overhaul - my project involves cutting holes through outside walls of my house, building a shed, and spending thousands of dollars I'm still working furiously to earn, but its in heavy planning stages and getting close now.

Right now, the only pictures I can take are of my scale model Play-doh and wire mockup. I'm going to try a few things a little different from what everyone else has done too.

Argh, the gauntlet has been laid down by a man terrorized by a nightmarish Yasha goby. Time to get off me arse and build...
:rollface:

PS big thanks to those who added their pics to this thread, and Yousmellsfishy for reminding me to build. And that I smell fishy.

LOL:lol:

Here's a Link to turtleman10's project. Hey turtleman, how about an update?:)

Bruno-

Does silicone adhere to the rock and the canvas long term?
I know it does not stick to acrylic well so I wonder how it works with the canvas.

Does the canvas structure become stiff enough to stay upright on its own if made into an L shape with a base? I was planning to use eggcrate so that I wouldn't need to attach it to the back wall.

The silicone does not stick very well to either the rock or the canvas. With my project, I laid the canvas down on it's back side and siliconed the rocks to it so I had gravity on my side keeping the rocks in place. Once the foam was applied and cured, it was as if each panel was a single piece of rock. It gets even more stiff with the application of the epoxy resin. I made canvas "flying buttresses" and covered them with foam/rock/epoxy when I did my project, that helped to support the panels, plus it provides some interesting formations for your fish to swim through. http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/PICT0137.jpghttp://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/PICT0136.jpgHow well that would work for you, I suppose, would depend on the size of your project. IMO though, if space isn't a concern, I'd definately go with the egg crate.

Hi Amanda

I can't really predict how the silicone-glued assembly is going to perform long-term. I can tell you that mine is pretty solid and I'm very pleased with the way it came out. I don’t anticipate any degradation of the silicone over time. The foam works real well in adding integrity to the structure, as fishy said. The Marco Rock, which comes dry, took real well to the silicone. In fact, my aquascape will be the larger Marco Rock pieces that I received, siliconed together to form caves and arches and such. All of those assemblies are also pretty solid.

I don't believe the canvas would work well as a stand-alone structure and would suggest using eggcrate for that type of application.

Good luck and post back if you have any questions.

I've went and created a foam background for a 55 Gallon. Here is the link
DIY foam background

Dan

There's a new member to the foam/rock nation - Tahoe Reefer. His 12 G build thread can be found right here.

Here is my build for a 70g. Unfortunately I sold the tank before I ever got water in it after the foam :(

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ostid=12336547

no thread yet but soon.

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5937/dscn0618qs1.jpg
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8338/dscn0628fe1.jpg
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/3043/dscn0626zb2.jpg

:eek2: WOW!! nice!!

Here's my diy rock project. Standard egg crate, zip ties, foam, and epoxy resin.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...ock_column.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/116761rock1.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...761rock_01.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...761rock_02.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...761rock_03.JPG

lol hey navy saw your post on reefchief

Very nice navya8tr

nice, I will be starting my own shortly

Good idea yousmellyfish,
here is my project:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1449804

here are some of mine thanks for the thread
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0010-1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...2/DSC_0008.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0004-1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0002-1.jpg